Rise of A Region
by Kneoria
Summary: A Friendly between three Quidditch teams becomes all the more interesting when a mysterious spectator joins the games.


**Warnings:** Mysterious disappearances mentioned, suspected death mentioned, Whitebeard Pirates, Straw Hat Pirates, Revolutionaries, Quidditch AU, College AU, Modern World AU, Gen Fic, Entirely UnBetaed

 **Disclaimer:** These characters are not mine. I am simply playing with them for your, and my amusement.

 **AN:** This story is entirely unbeta'ed and posted in honor of US Quidditch Cup 10 which starts this weekend. If you have any sort of questions about anything, please let me know them. There will probably be a lot of questions that you will have. Read at your own risk. See end of Story for longer Authors note.

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 **Rise of a Region**

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The field was a nice one, Marco absently thought as he surveyed the grounds from his vantage point on the hill just behind the soccer goalposts. Turf field, regulation size brooms, plenty of extra balls and a set of what looked like a set Peterson hoops were set up on one half of the soccer field he was overlooking. Random joyous yelling drifted up to him as people greeted each other and he let the sounds wash over him. He was going to sit here and enjoy the sunshine in peace and relative quiet before the rest of the team arrived and he had to go manage things, make introductions and generally figure out the plan of action.

The spring sun was bright, warming the day to a rather comfortable temperature that was just shy of being too hot. It was negated by a very gentle breeze pushing the barest wisp of a cloud lazily across the brilliant blue sky. Marco set his hands behind him and returned his lazy gaze to the people on the field below. They had just started to set up their equipment and Marco checked the time. He had an hour or so before the friendlies were supposed to start but if he knew his team, it would in reality be more like 2. So what was he going to do to pass the time? Marco was half temped to copy the guy he had spotted while searching for a dry spot to sit and just take a nap.

While it sounded nice in theory, he knew it would be a bad idea. He wanted to be at his best for these matches. Their region was new as were the two teams that had invited them here today, but they had already gained something of a rep. Frankly, Marco decided, readjusting how he was sitting to see the field a bit more clearly he would be better served watching their practice and warm up in an attempt to figure out the team's strengths and weaknesses.

He wasn't entirely sure how long he was watching for before the squishing sound of a canvas shoe stepping into a particularly viscous muddy patch alerted him to the fact that he had company. The arm that draped itself over his shoulder accompanied by a rather ridiculous red pompadour alerted him to the fact that Thatch had finally woken up and realized that they had arrived at their location. Due to their prolonged friendship he was probably one of the only people that would take such liberties. They watched in silence as the group of people below, which had only grown in size since Marco had started watching, completed a rather complex scoring drill.

"You've got maybe 5 minutes before the rest of the group starts arriving. " he said with a yawn.

Marco raised an eyebrow at that. "You mean they're actually going to be on time today?"

Thatch managed to look offended "Hey! We totally get places on time!"

Marco snorted, clearly amused. "Only because I've been purposely telling the group the wrong start time of tournaments for at least a year or so. Today's the first time since that disaster that was our first tournament that I didn't."

Thatch gaped at him then rolled his eyes. "Of course you have. I can't believe I forgot how devious you can be."

"So, how late?" Marco chuckled.

Thatch grinned as well. "Last car should be here in 30 minutes at the latest."

"Right." Marco said shrugging Thatch's arm from his shoulders as he smoothly rose from his seat. "I should probably go let them know then. And introduce myself while I'm at it. I don't think I've actually ever met Sabo in person." He turned to offer Thatch a hand up, but his friend had already hoisted himself to his feet.

"Might want to hold up a second. I see Haruta's car." Thatch said and Marco nodded in acquiescence. They didn't have to wait long. The car had scarcely come to a stop before Haruta tumbled out full of their usual boundless energy and scampered over.

"Hey guys!" They cried out cheerfully as they attempted to scramble up Thatch's back, clearly attempting to get a piggyback. "Where are the others?"

"Not here yet." Thatch said

"Whoohoo!" Haruta yelled "Its not us who's last this time!"

"Impossible things have been known to happen." Marco said dryly as Jiru, Izou, and Jozu joined them on the hill. Haruta made a face when they caught the teasing tone directed their way.

"Yeah yeah. Get lost one time…" They grumbled good-naturedly and Thatch snorted from beneath them as they settled themselves on his back.

"Once? Try like ten or fifteen and then you might, just might be in the ball park" Marco teased.

Haruta stuck out their tongue in response before exclaiming, "Lets go!" Apparently spurred on by the other's enthusiasm, Thatch took off down the hill like a shot with Haruta whooping like a maniac on his back. Jiru, the only certified EMT of their group took off a second later yelling semi-jokingly at the pair that they'd better not hurt themselves. Marco rolled his eyes at the antics of his teammates before heading down towards the pitch himself at a much more sedate pace.

Izou matched his stride and after a moment inquired "So?"

Marco shrugged. He knew exactly what the other was asking. "Not sure yet. I've heard that The Strawhats have a stronger chaser lineup with fast breaks while the Revolutionaries tend to favor gaining bludger control and taking their time. We should be able to beat them with ease but seeing as the two teams have been practicing together the entire time, I don't exactly know who's on which team. This would also be a bit easier if I actually knew what Sabo looked like as well."

"You still don't know?" Izou asked incredulously.

Marco simply shrugged. How was he supposed to know what the other man looked like? He wasn't on Facebook all that much and Sabo's profile picture there was simply an icon of a Tophat. The other captain had emailed him instead of using a chat feature and in doing the set up for this friendly they simply had never gotten around to meeting one another face to face.

"Ah, I can help with that." A new voice said cutting into the conversation. The source was somewhere near their feet and Marco looked down to meet a pair of curious silver eyes peering up at him from underneath a vibrantly orange cowboy hat.

"Really?" Izou asked, sounding skeptical. Despite the warmth of the day, the other man was bundled up rather seriously.

"Yeah. You said you were looking for Sabo right?" The stranger said as they pulled themselves to their feet. He adjusted his hat to get a better view of the field revealing a face full of freckles atop a deep tan. Without bothering to wait for an answer the other man continued. "Ah, found him. He's the blonde one over there," the stranger said making a vague gesture as he stooped down to grab a green zebra stripped bag with a rather intricately designed spade over one pocket.

"Well, that's not terribly helpful," Marco said, glancing in the direction that the stranger had gestured to before turning back to the other man. "There are currently several blonds 'over there.' Can you be a bit more specific?"

"Sure." The stranger said. "He's the only blond with facial scars. Here, why don't I just introduce you?

Marco shrugged then offered out a hand. "Sounds good to me. I'm Marco by the way."

"Izou." Izou offered with a wave of his hand. The creased brow between his friend's eyebrows was rather telling. It meant that Izou was trying to remember something, though at the moment it probably came off as unfriendly. It didn't seem to bother the cheerful stranger who returned the introductions with a smirk.

"Nice t' meetcha. I'm Ace." Ace said shaking Marco's hand before the trio resumed their walk to the pitch. "Who do you play for?"

"Eh? Oh, the Whitebeards."

Ace looked rather impressed by that statement. "For real? That's the shit man. Thought you guys weren't a part of this region though?"

"We are now." Marco said with a smile. "With the Strawhats and the Revolutionaries joining up, the board finally decided there were enough teams in the area to qualify for a region of our own."

"Sweet." Ace said. "Though I hope you don't think you guys'll be able to just walk all over these two teams, Mr. Quidditch World Cup Champions."

Marco simply shrugged and Ace laughed loudly, drawing stares from all over the pitch with rather amusing effects as a couple of people suddenly became recipients of bludgers to the face. Another person, apparently startled by the laughter threw a quaffle a little too high and it sailed over the edge of the passing circle headed right towards them. Ace snatched it out of the air and had returned the pass to another person in the circle. That seemed to break whatever spell had come over the majority of the players except for two people in particular. A small tan lanky boy wearing a strawhat exchanged some sort of look with a blond young man with a series of scars scattered over his left side, the most prominent one over his left eye. Ace gave a small wave and apparently that was all that was needed to cause the pair to run towards them, no at Ace, full tilt.

Ace's eyes widened and he quickly took the bag off of his shoulder and held it out to Marco who looked at him with undisguised curiosity. "Can you do me a favor and hold this?" Ace asked, the words coming out in a rush.

"Sure." Marco had scarcely taken the bag before Ace continued

"You might also want to take a couple of steps to the side."

"Why?" Marco asked but the question was rendered moot as the answer came barreling past as twin blond and black blurs tackled Ace bringing him down with a lot of noise. Marco turned to Izou who was still standing beside him. "Are you as confused as I am?"

"Yes." Izou said. "Though I finally figured out why the kid seems familiar."

"Oh?"

"That's Ace."

"Im aware that's Ace. He told us his name Izou."

"I wasn't done thank you. That's Ace of Spades."

Marco blinked. "As in the Merc team that made it to the final four of the Quidditch World Cup Championships 3 years ago? The team that was rumored to be able to give us a run for our money but ended up withdrawing due to injuries?"

"Exactly." Izou said. "I wonder what he's doing here. I thought all of the Spades had retired from Quidditch after that."

"Most of us did. The Spades as a Quidditch team no longer exists." Ace said rejoining the pair, arms over the shoulders of the two people who had just tackled him. Strangely enough, the younger of the two the kid with the straw hat had tears running down his face while beaming like Christmas had come early. The blond under Ace's other arm didn't have any tears but had a rather similar smile on his face. Marco's curiosity was driving him crazy but he pushed it away. He didn't know any of these people well enough to ask about the strange series of events he had just witnessed. "And to answer your question, Im just here to visit these weirdo and play some Quidditch. Sabo, Luffy, meet Marco and Izou of the Whitebeards."

"Nice to finally put a faces to the names." Marco commented, hands in his pockets.

"Indeed." Sabo said, ducking out of Ace's hold. "Ya ready to get these games started?"

Marco looked around, and his eyes lit upon a familiar group of people that were just standing atop the hill he and Izou had just walked down. "Seeing as the rest of my team just arrived, I'll have to say yes."

"Great." Sabo said. "Lets get this show on the road then."

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 **AN:** Ive been sitting on this ficlet for a while. US Quidditch Cup 10 starts this weekend and Im going to be watching, so I figure its probably a decent time to post this before games start in the morning. Before you go let me see if I can answer some of the most commonly asked questions about quidditch.

Yes, Muggle Quidditch is a thing.

No, it is not only played in the US. It is international. Australia won last year's world cup.

Yes, Brooms are used and yes it is a full contact sport.

No, we do not fly.

The Snitch is a tennis ball in a sock velcroed to a neutral 3rd parties rear. It is only worth 30 points. Catching it, separating the sock from the person, ends the game. And I think thats all. If you have any sort of question about the story or quidditch, please please please ask it. I would love to answer the questions that you have.


End file.
